Property Manager · San Antonio and Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 377 posts · 380 votes
9y
@Joel Schiffer There are a lot of proven techniques that landlords have used to find renters. These would include all of the above. The thing to be cautious about is the screening.
Homes are still renting just fine in the San Antonio region. It comes down to simple population growth. As I was doing some annual analysis this morning of the 6 largest San Antonio Property Management companies (mine was one of them) - I found that the average Days on Market to Rent a home ranged from 21 days to 48 days....taking a poll of the last 12 months, for 6 property management companies, over 1700 rented units.
Point being - the market is very healthy and if you price the home right and provide enough advertising - you will get applicants. That's where the work begins.
Investor · San Antonio, TX · Member since 2012 · 77 posts · 35 votes
9y
Hey @Joel Schiffer -- I think having and agent list your property on the MLS is the easiest way to find a tenant but if you don't want to pay an agent you still have other choices:
-Put a "For Rent" sign in the yard and some on the entrances to the neighborhood -- people who live in that neighborhood or are visiting people who live in that neighborhood will see it and either want to live by their friends/family or call their friends/family because they want them to live close to them.
-Craigslist (this can be good and bad)
-You can also list on places like Zillow
As long as you have a nice house and you don't overprice it for the neighborhood, you should be fine. Good Luck!
Investor · Boyd, TX · Member since 2014 · 688 posts · 467 votes
9y
Have a good house and location at a market price or slightly lower. Take good pictures and have a good description then post to Craigslist and Zillow Property Manager. That has worked for me and usually generates a list of qualified people so I may not have to list another place coming up soon. It helps that I have my parent's places to work with too so we can place people in either person's properties. I wish I had another dozen placed open currently.
San Antonio, TX · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 4 votes
9y
Thanks for the replys. I've just been looking on zillow at all the single family houses for rent and wondered why there are so many. I'm sure they're prices are a bit on the high side for the quality of the house.
San Antonio, TX · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 0 votes
9y
Joel, there is huge military community in San Antonio. I am military and I move a lot, every two to three years. Rentals are attractive to military families because of the pace at which we move.
Property Manager · San Antonio and Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 377 posts · 380 votes
9y
@Joel Schiffer There are a lot of proven techniques that landlords have used to find renters. These would include all of the above. The thing to be cautious about is the screening.
Homes are still renting just fine in the San Antonio region. It comes down to simple population growth. As I was doing some annual analysis this morning of the 6 largest San Antonio Property Management companies (mine was one of them) - I found that the average Days on Market to Rent a home ranged from 21 days to 48 days....taking a poll of the last 12 months, for 6 property management companies, over 1700 rented units.
Point being - the market is very healthy and if you price the home right and provide enough advertising - you will get applicants. That's where the work begins.
I'm no mathematician but if the top 6 management companies have 1700 properties combined (per Brad's post), and maybe there are another 1700 out there with other companies or independent, and an average vacancy of 10 percent, that would mean that at any time you could easily find 340 properties advertised for rent in a perfectly healthy rental market.
Property Manager · San Antonio and Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 377 posts · 380 votes
9y
@Betty Cruz Great point Betty - but you would be way short. Property Managers only have about a 30% market penetration into the overall rental market both in San Antonio and Nationwide.
Add in the 80/20 rule - so 20% of the companies in town (the top 10 perhaps) are doing 80% of the work - throw another 20% into that 30%. (30% and 20% for a guess of 50%)
Meaning --- there is another 50% or more out there unaccounted for on any sort of tracking service.
In summary, the market is good and homes rent. The aggregate numbers should not scare someone as good homes do well in a good market.
ADVERTISING METHODS:
Zillow, Trulia, Craigslist, Realtor.com, Multiple Listing Service, AHRN.com, For Rent By Owner, Military By Owner....and the list goes on.
San Antonio, TX · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 4 votes
9y
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Via a not so scientific method I am seeing that most of these rental properties (on zillow) are renting out pretty quickly. Since I am new to real estate the number of rental properties listed out there was at first strange but the demand is there for sure. It seems that @Brad Larsen analysis on average home rental times of between 20 to 40 days is correct.